Pages

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Cuzco, Peru: Making Chocolate & Eating Guinea Pigs

After our tour of Lake Titicaca, Kevin, Marleen and I moved onto the famous city of Cuzco, Peru! (I make it sound easy. It was a 5-hour bus ride).

What It's All About:

Cuzco, Peru is famous because it is the jumping-off point for Machu Picchu! The city itself is amazing - it's gorgeous and the historic cobblestoned streets are lined with old Incan walls and monumental buildings. Cuzco itself is a part of the Sacred Valley, where you can find TONS of amazing old-school Incan villages, ruins, buildings, temples, and history. You can seriously spend a week here.

Cuzco's Plaza de Armas! SO PRETTY

I've been to Cuzco before, about 5.5 years ago when I took a trip to Machu Picchu with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. So while most backpackers spend a good chunk of time in the city, I breezed through for a couple days (Cuzco is on the way to Lima, which is where I was headed next - so it was on the way! Efficiency!). And since I'd already seen all the main attractions/events, I spent my time doing whatever I wanted, which was AMAZING. Sometimes, it's good to not have a list of must-do's: not that seeing amazing worldly sites is hard work or anything, but it can sometimes be just as good to relax.

Cliffnotes of the Day:

Spent the first night wandering the streets of Cuzco and playing interesting Dutch dice games with Kevin and Marleen. To be honest, I remember so many of the streets/restaurants/hotels from way back when I visited. But even in the span of 5, 6 years - Cuzco has gotten SO much busier. There are way, way more people and cars and tourists. And now I sound 100 years old. BACK IN THE DAY....

Plaza de Armas by night

Some of the old, narrow passageways - still have Incan walls as the base!

This is an incredibly strange Dutch game Kevin/Marleen taught me...I think it's called "Worms." And the goal is to roll dice and collect worms. At least the name is straightforward...

Next day, other tourists went to visit historic Incan temples.....and I went to the Choco Museo (yep, it is exactly what it sounds like)(also, it wasn't just me - Marleen and Kevin joined as well). They offer these chocolate classes where you get to make your own chocolate - but in my defense, you also learn tons about the cacao plant and how to harvest the beans and the entire process, etc. So really, it's incredibly educational. No, really.

I had this crazy fruit for breakfast, called a granadilla. It's kind of like a pomegranate with the juicy seeds inside, except it tastes a little like passion fruit and looks like a wonky orange.

I could watch this lady pipe chocolate all day

Part of the process is heating up the cacao beans

And you grind the toasted cacao beans into a paste. Though mine never really made it past the "fine grit" stage. I blame weak forearms.

Here is our choco teacher - we also made three types of chocolate drinks, including choco tea and spicy hot choco

And then we got to make our own chocolates! And add any kind of spice/crush-in/flavor we wanted! I meticulously diversified every kind of choco in my tray, but in the end, just wished I had filled every mold cup up with sprinkles and called it a day, because that was the best

So much chocolate magic being created

They let us lick the chocolate bowls when we were done with our molds. Marleen and Kevin and I maybe got in a tiny choco fight, hence the smudges

Finished product! Which I nommed down in like, 10 seconds.

Because Cuzco/Machu Picchu has become such a popular tourist destination, it really is a traveller's paradise: cheap massages, shopping, delicious food, etc. I spent the rest of the day shopping through Cuzco's handicraft markets, getting a 20 sole massage (WHICH IS $6 = BASICALLY FREE), drinking fresh juices, and losing myself in the maze-like streets.

I love you, Cuzco

If anyone is visiting Cuzco and is reading this blog post - there are SO many incredible sites to visit in Cuzco: Qorikancha (the Golden temple), Sacsayhuaman (amazing ruins with HUGE ROCKS), Pisac (nearby town with an amazing market and ruins), and a million other amazing, fascinating, awe-inspiring Sacred Valley sites (Ollantaytambo, Chinchero, etc.). Not to mention Machu Picchu. So you should def not come visit Cuzco and think the #1 sight is the chocolate museum. It's the #2 sight. Obviously.

Meal of the Day:
Finally! I got to try guinea pig (yes, even after I saw the small squeaky cute things running around our homestay family's floor in Lake Titicaca). In Peru, guinea pig is a traditional dish called cuy, which they eat on special occasions in certain areas.

I can't tell if it's adding insult to injury that the guinea pig comes out with a jaunty lettuce/tomato hat, mounting a potato and with a pepper stuffed in its mouth.

And it's big! Squeak squeak

So in the spirit of honesty, I have to say that it kind of tasted like chicken....but not as good. The skin was super rubbery/tough, the bones were super small, and there wasn't a ton of meat. But it wasn't terrible. The consensus between Kevin and Marleen and I was that it was fine, but we probably won't ever feel the need to try it ever again. Ever. For the rest of time.